Drivers From Hill: MPs Shouldn’t Drive

MPs should quickly pass legislation to encourage the widespread adoption of self-driving cars, because an increasing number of MPs can not drive themselves properly. They are Drivers From Hill.

“Conservative minister Maxime Bernier was arrested Sunday in the county [sic], while driving the vehicle of his wife without holding a valid license, which forced the immediate towing.” Maxime Bernier, PC, MP is a Canadian politician currently serving as the Minister of State for Small Business and Tourism in the cabinet of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Years ago, this was written about Bernier:

But for those seeking a revolution in government behavior that will confine Ottawa to a limited and shrinking role in their lives, well, fasten your seat belt. Mad Max is the guy you want in the driver’s seat.

National Post
dmartin@nationalpost.com

{emphasis added for additional hilarity}

Conservative MPs Poilievre, Eve Adams, and now Maxime Bernier have all run afoul of driving laws in recent history. NDP MP and leader Thomas Mulcair also did so, by running a checkpoint or a stop sign on the Hill, and Conservatives would like to point out that in doing so he ran over a family of baby ducks and bumped a child in a wheelchair. If you can watch the CTV video without dying inside as the Cons mock the STOP Harper stunt by DePape, and the super-serious voice of the reporter states that Mulcair didn’t even get a ticket, you’re hearty stuff.

Maybe we shouldn’t have got on Bev Oda’s case when she hired a limo to drive her $16 orange juice swilling butt to wherever she wanted to go? Maybe we shouldn’t have been concerned that Harper gave the PM’s jet a new paint job with his party colour, and specially imported a limo to India so that he could be driven around there instead of hopping on an ATV again?

A well-placed source on the Hill told The Hill Times earlier Tuesday Ms. Adams (Brampton South-Mississauga, Ont.) was ticketed for using a cell phone while driving through the security stop.

The source said she impatiently pointed out to an RCMP security officer that she was an MP after she was first stopped, and that she attempted to pull rank on the officer by declaring she was an MP and pointing to the official collar badge all MPs wear for security reasons and a sign of their office.
[…]
Ms. Adams emailed The Hill Times at 5:53 p.m. to say parts of the story were incorrect.

“I need to correct some misinformation being reported by the media,” her email said. “I recently received a traffic ticket outside the main precinct for not coming to a complete stop. Unlike Thomas Mulcair, I immediately stopped and did not intimidate the officer.”

Ms. Adams said she paid the ticket “immediately.” {She did NOT say, “Can I pay this ticket… immediately, officer?” as is done in countries with police forces more corrupt than the RCMP, so as to make a bribe instead.}

“At no time did I identify myself as a Member of Parliament and since I do not wear an MP pin, could not have pointed to a pin,” Ms. Adams said.

Ms. Adams would have faced a fine of $125, along with a victim fine surcharge and $5 in costs had she been cited for using a handheld device while driving.

The source told The Hill Times Ms. Adams, Parliamentary secretary to the Veterans Affairs minister, was driving through the security entrance when officers noticed she was talking on her cell phone at the same time.

Ms. Adams last week faced criticism after the Ottawa Citizen reported on Wednesday, June 12, that she claimed hundreds of dollars in hair and nail salon bills as part of $2,777 in expenses from her 2011 election campaign. The bills included $1,857 in childcare costs and $491 Ms. Eves spent at Brampton-area beauty salons, as well as a $260 bill for makeup and grooming supplies from Shoppers Drug Mart.

If Elections Canada approves the expenses, Ms. Adams would be eligible for a 60 per cent reimbursement from taxpayers. Ms. Adams, 38, was elected to the Commons for the first time in 2011. She is engaged to former PMO communications director Dimitri Soudas, now the executive director for communications with the Canadian Olympic Committee.

All this silliness is a distraction from real scandal plaguing our country, but it serves to highlight the need for automated automobiles, so we don’t have to worry about people texting and driving, because the car will be applying the brakes faster than a human could respond anyway. The technology is available, we just need the law to force its use.